OUT of the 42 police officers that died while in service from 2015-2017, 38 deaths were non-communicable disease-related cases with the most common being cardiac complications, says Fiji’s Police Commissioner Brigadier General Sitiveni Qiliho.
Brig-Gen Qiliho said they had been labelled by members of the public as an unhealthy force.
“When that happened, we couldn’t go into defence mode and argue that point, simply because the public was right,” the Police Commissioner said.
He said the Force had now roped in the services and the expertise of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services to conduct health audits.
“On the outside, some of us look very healthy, when in fact there is a ticking time bomb inside where health complications were developing without our knowledge.”
